S. Evan Townsend's Blog, page 69

Huskies are #4 in Final Poll

The AP Top 25 College Football Poll released its final poll for the 2016 season this morning. I was worried that the University of Washington Huskies might drop out of the #4 position because of their loss to Alabama. Especially after Clemson beat Alabama last night in the CFP Championship game.

But the Huskies stayed at #4. So they are considered the fourth best team out of 128 FBS teams (teams that are bowl eligible if they win 6 games in a season).

Interestingly, USC who won the Rose Bowl against Purdue, rose to #3 from #9 making them the highest ranked Pac-12 team. Utah showed up in the top 25 again at #23 after winning their bowl game. Colorado and Stanford were also in the top 25, meaning nearly half the Pac-12 was ranked. And no other conference has two teams in the top 5.

Looking forward to next year. One issue is that four top UW players have decided to skip their senior years and go to the NFL draft. One was John Ross who is an amazing player. Husky head coach Chris Petersen has a job ahead of him keeping the Huskies nationally predominant losing four of his best players. But that's why he makes $3.75 million a year.

Can't wait for September when college football starts again. It is, after all, my favorite month.

The Speculative Fiction Cantina with Marina Fontaine and Daniella Bova

Today on the Speculative Fiction Cantina we are pleased to welcome writers Marina Fontaine and Daniella Bova.
Marina FontaineMarina Fontaine

Marina Fontaine is a Russian by birth, an American by choice, and an unrepentant book addict.

Because of her background, Marina always appreciates an opportunity to discover, share and support pro-freedom literature. She runs Small Government Book Fan Club on Goodreads, Conservative-Libertarian Fiction Alliance group on Facebook, and a cultural commentary/review blog, Marina’s Musings. She is a part of the Creators’ Team at Liberty Island website, where she contributes book reviews and some creative work.

Marina is the author of Chasing Freedom (a 2016 Dragon Award finalist for Best Apocalyptic Novel) and The Product, a dystopian novella published by the Superversive Press.

Marina lives in New Jersey with her very supportive husband, three children and four guinea pigs, working as an accountant by day and a writer by night. Her other interests include hard rock music, action movies and travel.

Marina's Books:

The Product


Chasing Freedom

Marina's Links:

Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Gab


Daniella BovaDaniella Bova

Daniella Bova and her husband live in beautiful Chester County, Pennsylvania. In addition to writing, Daniella loves reading, running in the beauty of the nature preserve near her home, the Catholic Faith, Classic Rock, Delaware Bay and the Delaware Beaches, and any and all forms of textile and fiber artistry.


Daniella is the author of "The Storms Of Transformation" Series, a near future dystopia. Book One, Tears Of Paradox, and Book Two, The Notice, were CLFA Book of the Year Nominees. Book Three, Cadáin's Watch, will be published in February of 2017.

Daniella's Books:

Tears of Paradox

The Notice

Cadáin's Watch (Storms Of Transformation Book 3) for preorder

Daniella's Links:

Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Gab

From Today's Show: Satellite Galaxy May be Clue to Dark Matter.


Listen to today's show at 6:00 PM ET / 3:00 PM PT or in archive here.

My Favorite Month

Time once again for the "52-week blogging challenge" and today's prompt is "My favorite month."

This is January. This isn't it. January is probably one of my least favorite months. Cold and snow and the long hangover of the post-holiday period. January sucks.

My favorite month is probably September. It starts to cool off, the leaves start to change, but (at least where I live) it doesn't rain too much and never snows. And Pumpkin Spice Everything doesn't come out until October.

September accords us a chance before winter hits to spend time driving our cars on dry roads, enjoy blue skies and sunshine, and turn off the air conditioner and, until it gets too cool, leave the heat off.

And the holiday madness hasn't hit yet, either.

When I was a kid, September meant back to school. So that wasn't fun. But as an adult, that's no longer an issue.

So, why not May or June? Allergies, mostly. Although after seven years of allergy shots, that's much better.

What's your favorite month?

Gratuitous Swearing

Over the weekend I watched the movie Sully. Good movie; I highly recommend it.

It was rated PG-13 for "for some peril and brief strong language."

The "strong language" has to be very brief. I have read that in PG-13 films you are allowed to say the F-word once and only as an interjection. It can't refer to sex.

Now bad language doesn't bother me, in real life or in the movies. Hell, I've seen The Big Lebowski which has the F-word spoken 292 times according to the Internet Movie Database.

But in Sully, there was one and only one use of the F-word. And it was totally unnecessary. One character says "It's F-ing cold." They could have said "Damn, it's cold" or "It's damn cold."

I think the only other swear word was a "bullshit" at some point. But I'm not attuned to counting swear words as some people seem to be. Probably, again, because I'm not offended by them.

I have a theory. Without that gratuitous F-word, Sully would have been rated PG, probably. Since children's movies are usually rated PG (you pretty much have to watch a nature documentary to see a "G" rating these days), the producers didn't want people to think Sully was too mild. So they threw in a gratuitous F-word to get a PG-13 rating for marketing reason.

Which is rather silly. But goes to show how the movie rating system affects movies.

What a Great Season the Huskies Had!

Yesterday in the College Football Semifinal game in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, the University of Washington Huskies lost to Alabama. Alabama is still undefeated and still the #1 team in the nation.

It started out with the Huskies scoring first. But the Dawgs never scored again as the Alabama defense held them. The final score was 7-24. But it could have been a lot worse. The Husky defense never gave up, never stopped trying, and forced Alabama to punt often. Unfortunately the Huskies offense could never take advantage of that as the Alabama defense shut down both their passing game and running attack.

But, I still love my Huskies.

Think about this: last year they went into the Apple Cup needing to win to have a 6-6 season and be bowl eligible. Then did win and went on to play in a bowl called the "Heart of Dallas Bowl." They won that, too, for a 7-6 season record.

This year they lost one regular season game (to the hated USC), won the Pac-12 Championship Game, and then lost to Alabama for a 12-2 season record. That's quite an improvement. And, at least for now, they are the #4 team in the nation out of 128 FBS teams.

So I still love my Huskies. And I can't wait until next year because I think they will do even better. Right now they are scheduled to play their opening game at Rutgers on Friday September 1st. That's only 243 days away.

I Deserve to Feel Good

Today at noon Pacific Standard Time, the #4 University of Washington Huskies play in their first ever playoff game*. They are playing the #1 team in the nation, Alabama, who are undefeated. The Huskies have a 12-1 record. The game will be on ESPN.

For other time zones that's 3:00 PM Eastern, 2:00 PM Central, 1:00 PM Mountain, and if you're in Alaska or Hawaii, check local listings.

And, to be honest, I'm am thoroughly enjoying myself. And I deserve to.

I have been a fan of the Huskies since I graduated from the University of Washington in 1994. But I didn't become a rabid, can't-miss-a-game fan of Husky football until later. I suspect it was 2006 when I went to a game in Husky Stadium against Arizona. I remember yelling with 50,000 other people for the Dawgs to win in overtime. And there's something about that experience that programs the brain to love what you're yelling about. The Huskies lost that game, by the way.

I was a fan of the Huskies in 2008 when they lost every single game. They are the only Pac-12 team
Husky Stadium after that Arizona gameto have a season with no wins (it was the Pac-10 back then). I remember celebrating first downs because they were rare and the only thing there was to celebrate. (That coach, who shall not be named, got fired at the end of that year.)

I stuck with them through the Sarkisian era when things got slightly better. At least we went to some bowl games. Then Sarkisian went to USC where he got fired for something that is being disputed in the courts. (Ironically, Sarkisian is now Alabama's Offensive Coordinator.)

And the University of Washington hired Chris Petersen from Boise State where he'd had great success. Three years ago. I don't think anyone expected Petersen to have this much success this early. Somehow it all came together this year.

I used to say I'd be happy if the Huskies record was 8-4 or better, they beat Oregon, they beat Washington State in the Apple Cup, and they went to a bowl and won it. So far this year, they've done all of that except for winning the bowl game. We'll find out later today if they can do that. They are the 15 and a half point underdogs in this game.

And the future? If Peterson stays at UW, I think we can expect continued success. Maybe not this good every year. But this good quite often. I'm hoping the Chris Petersen years will be like the halcyon Don James years.

Now excuse me while I get my game face on.

*The current playoff system is only in its third year. We'll see how long this lasts after the debacle that was the BCS system. I wish they'd just go to a playoff system with all the conference champions.

The Speculative Fiction Cantina with K.J. Gillenwater and J.P. Robinson

Today on the Speculative Fiction Cantina we are pleased to welcome writers K.J. Gillenwater and J.P. Robinson.
K.J. GillenwaterK.J. Gillenwater

K.J. Gillenwater has a B.A. in English and Spanish from Valparaiso University and an M.A. in Latin American Studies from University of California, Santa Barbara. She worked as a Russian linguist in the U.S. Navy, spending time at the National Security Agency doing secret things. After six years of service, she ended up as a technical writer in the software industry. She has lived all over the U.S. and currently resides in Idaho with her family where she runs her own business writing government proposals and squeezes in fiction writing when she can. In the winter she likes to ski and snowshoe; in the summer she likes to garden with her husband, take walks with her dog, and try her hand at gold panning and huckleberry picking. She has written several paranormal suspense books and plans on writing more.

K.J.'s Books:

Nemesis

Skyfall

Acapulco Nights

K.J.'s Links:

Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest

J.P. RobinsonJ.P. Robinson

J.P. Robinson is a writer, performer and video producer.  J.P.’s writing includes a myriad of formats, from radio commentary to hour-long storytelling shows, and screenplays to novels.  J.P. is a storyteller with and the founder of Better Said Than Done, Virginia’s premiere storytelling troupe, voted one of the “Best Performing Arts Companies in Virginia” by Virginia Living Magazine (2012 -15).  After graduating from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Film and TV Production, JP launched Capture Video, Inc., a corporate video production company. JP is currently working on Book 2 of the V to Z Trilogy. The first book in the series, Caged, is available for purchase here. J.P. has been a regular commentator on WAMU, DC’s NPR station. Publications include my true, personal story, “The Game,” in Sucker for Love, and, “What Are the Odds?” in The Northern Virginia Review, Volume 29.

J.P.'s works;

Caged

"What Are the Odds?" (short story not available online)

"The Game" (short story)

J.P.'s Links:

Website (personal)
Website (Fairfax, VA storytelling show)
Blog
Facebook
Twitter

From today's program: Largest Space Telescope Ready to Launch

Listen to today's program at 6:00 PM ET / 3:00 PM PT or in archive here.

Social Media

It's time once again for the 52-week blogging challenge. Today's prompt is a little strange. It's "Social Media Phenomenon." I'm not sure what they are looking for.

In social media I blog (duh), I use Twitter, and I use Facebook, both personally and a Facebook page about my books and writing, appearances, etc. I have a Google+ account that I never use.

On my personal Facebook account I don't censor myself. I'll post about politics, or whatever comes to mind. Since I'm sort of a political junkie (less so this horrible year), I tend to post about politics a lot (probably too much).

At one time I had a "political" twitter account. I followed pundits and other people who had intelligent things to say. I'd occasionally try to join the conversation with a pithy tweet of my own. I once got retweeted by an editor of an opinion journal. Once.

I used to have a blog on which I didn't censor myself (as I do on this blog). I got very political. I once got linked to by a very popular blog. I got about 12,000 hits in one day. I got burned out on it in 2012 and simply stopped writing it. It's still out there on the interwebs.

On my Facebook page, I am never political or controversial. I post about my books, appearances, and things I find interesting about science or space exploration.

On Twitter I've gotten political twice when I tweeted a hashtag about the election we all just suffered through. Just a hashtag, with no comment.

I have noticed people are "braver" on social media. They are much more likely to argue (or troll) you than they would in real life. And sometimes anger flairs. I've been "unfriended" by relatives and friends who disagree with me.

I don't think I've even hinted at my politics on this blog. Well maybe once or twice.

So, that's about it for social media. How do you use social media in your life.

Rudolph's Reading 2016 Christmas GIveaway is Almost Over

It's almost over, Rudolph's Reading 2016 Christmas Giveaway. Be sure to enter for your chance at winning lots of prizes and a grand prize of $120 PayPal cash.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Tables have Turned.

The tables have been turned. Usually I'm the one doing the interviews on the Speculative Fiction Cantina. But today I'm interviewed at The Daily Author. Tune in at 4:00 PM ET / 1:00 PM PT to hear me read from Treasure of the Black Hole and try to answer questions intelligently.
 

Listen in the above embedded player or here. It will also be in archive after it plays.